Meanwhile, in Washington, DC

Here are some snippets of just a few of the things that have taken place in and around Washington, D.C. in the last ten days or so. Most of them aren’t getting much coverage by the mainstream news media.

I’m sorry this is so long. I’m only the messenger, and it’s only Wednesday night as I put the finishing touches on this. It just might be my longest blog post ever. That in itself is indicative of the state of things in America today.

Photo of the White House, Washingon, D.C.
The White House, Washington, D.C.

Another mass school shooting in America

Yesterday’s mass shooting at a school in Minnesota was met with “thoughts and prayers” and flags lowered to half-staff at the White House. Isn’t it a shame that is all politicians can do? Their “thoughts and prayers” are not stopping the bullets.


Cruelty at the highest level

I mentioned the mysterious influence that Laura Loomer has over President Trump in my August 19, 2025, blog post, Trump and one of his “advisors”.

It seems Loomer has not gone away or tamped down her hatred for certain groups of people. She was upset that a few severely injured Palestinian children from Gaza were being brought to the United States for medical care. Children who were missing arms and legs, children with severe burns, etc. Loomer called them a “national security threat” and “Islamic invaders.”

On Friday, August 15, Loomer spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the next day the State Department announced it was pausing all visitor visas for individuals from Gaza.


Guns for National Guard Troops in Washington, DC

Last Friday evening, U.S Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ordered the National Guard troops deployed to Washington, DC to start carrying their weapons.

National Guard troops are trained for war, not for everyday crime control on the street of America.

Trump has turned our nation’s capital into a police state and his followers think it is a beautiful thing. To them, the ends always justify the means.

That’s how far we have moved away from understanding the Constitution of the United States of America, the law, and the spirit of the law. The “party of law and order” has lost its way and lost sight of the law and is only interested in their idea of “order.”

The Posse Comitatus Act limits the federal government in the use of U.S. military personnel in the enforcement of domestic policies within the United States. First signed into law in 1878, the bill has been updated in 1956, 1981, and 2021.

The Posse Comitatus Act does not prevent the Army or the Air National Guard from acting in a law enforcement capacity in its home state or in an adjacent state if invited by that state’s governor.

But, at the invitation from Trump, various state governors have fallen in line and sent their National Guard troops or promised/offered to send their National Guard troops to Washington, DC or wherever Trump chooses to send them. The letter of the law: “home state or in an adjacent state if invited by that state’s governor” has fallen by the wayside.

In the meantime, National Guard personnel are being called upon to leave their families, their businesses, and their jobs to deploy to Washington, DC to do whatever Trump decides they should do.

The National Guard is being turned into a political pawn, which absolutely goes against the United States Constitution and all federal laws regarding the military.

I’ll have more about the National Guard and various other topics in my blog post tomorrow.


Hegseth fires more top military personnel

On Friday, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth fired Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, Head of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency. It just so happens that Gen. Kruse issued a report saying that the U.S. airstrikes against Iran several months ago only set back Iran’s nuclear program by months. His report contradicted Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claims that Iran’s nuclear program had been “obliterated.”

This is proof once more that Trump does not want the truth. He wants unquestioning loyalty like he sees dictators in North Korea, China, and Russia getting.

Hegseth also fired Vice Admiral Nancy Lacore and Rear Admiral Milton Sands. Lacore was chief officer of the Navy Reserve. Sands oversaw Naval Special Warfare Command and was a Navy SEAL.

No reasons were given for the firings, and no public announcements were made by the Defense Department. They were just quietly done late on a Friday when the public is not supposed to be paying attention.


600+ cuts at CDC

More than 600 researchers and other employees of the Centers for Disease Control are expected to receive their notices of termination this week. This is all part of the Trump Administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” campaign.

It is ironic that the entire CDC Division of Violence Prevention is being eliminated as part of this wave of firings just days after a gunman who thought the COVID vaccine had made him sick sprayed the campus of the CDC with more than 500 bullets.


New CDC Director fired

Centers for Disease Control Director Susan Monarez was fired yesterday just four weeks and one day after obtaining Congressional approval for the position. In her confirmation hearings she seemed to struggle to champion vaccines, knowing that was contradicting the long-held beliefs Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., holds.

New CDC Director fired

Centers for Disease Control Director Susan Monarez was fired yesterday just four weeks and one day after obtaining Congressional approval for the position. In her confirmation hearings she seemed to struggle to champion vaccines, knowing that was contradicting the long-held beliefs Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., holds.

Within minutes of Monarez’s firing, Chief Medical Officer Debra Houry, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases Demetre Daskalakis, and Director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases turned in their resignations.

Established on July 1, 1946, the Centers for Disease Control has saved countless lives around the world. It is truly a global tragedy to see what the Trump Administration has done to it.


Threats of ABC and NBC broadcast licenses revoked

On social media on Sunday, Trump all but called for ABC and NBC to lose their broadcast licenses. He said he would support that move by the Federal Communications Commission. He called the two TV networks arms of the Democratic Party and claimed that their reporting is 97% negative about him.

We are moving into extremely dangerous territory as Trump wants to eliminate the free press.


Meanwhile, my Congressman’s newsletters get more disgusting

My “Representative” in the U.S. House of Representatives is on a tear now to stop parents from taking their minor daughters across state lines to get an abortion. It is called the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act. He says, “this should be the first of many steps Congress takes to end the tragedy of abortion and preying on the vulnerable.”

If he cared one iota for that pregnant minor child, he would work on legislation to go after the low life man who got that child pregnant. But no! He wants to go after her parents and he wants to force that child to have a baby.

In the same newsletter he claimed that Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” will result in “annual wages in North Carolina rising by roughly $5,500 to $10,500 in the long term.” He does not explain how the “big, beautiful bill” will make that happen, nor does he define “long term.” Ten years? 45 years?

That probably sounds great to his constituents who hang on his every word and trust him since he is a Southern Baptist preacher.

This is the same man I could not email about the starving children in Gaza or any of my other concerns while Congress was on vacation the last week of July and the entire month of August because there was “no server available to receive your email.”

He disgusts me.


Russia bombs American manufacturing plant in Ukraine

Two Russian missiles hit an American-owned electronic manufacturing plan in Ukraine.

Ever the tough guy against Russia, Trump responded: “I told [Putin] I’m not happy about it.”

Wow! Putin will be afraid to do that again!


$4 billion wind farm halted by Trump Administration

Trump continues to spit in the face of sources of renewable energy.

The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management cited “national security interests” when it ordered the developers of Revolution Wind to “halt all ongoing activities” off the coast of Rhode Island.

The Department of the Interior does not recognize windmills as a “reasonable use of the exclusive economic zone.”

Plans to the 65-turbine windfarm were approved on November 17, 2023, and the project is 80% complete.

If the windfarm’s construction had been allowed completion, beginning in the spring of 2026 it would have generated enough electricity to power 350,000 homes in Rhode Island and Connecticut.


Another crypto scheme

I use the word “scheme” in the true American use of the term. In the U.S., the word “scheme” carries negative connotations.

It seems that Trump keeps tricking his supporters into investing in crypto. I do not feel sorry for them. The pattern is that he promotes a new crypto investment, calling it a “crypto treasury” firm. People invest, Trump cashes out, and everyone else loses.

The Wall Street Journal commented that there is a pattern here.


Trump invests in corporate and government bonds

It has been reported that Trump has invested more than $100 million in corporate and government bonds since January 20. No wonder he keeps pressuring The Fed to lower interest rates. When that happens, he will make out like a bandit.


Can anyone say, “blackmail”?

Democrat Governor of Maryland, Wes Moore, invited the President to came to Baltimore and join in a “public safety walk” with him and the city’s mayor and other law enforcement officials. In response, Trump said Moore needed to clean up the crime in the city or he would send in the National Guard and possibly withhold federal funds for the reconstruction of the Francis Scott Key bridge that was rammed and heavily damaged by a barge last year.


Trump quietly stations U.S. military off the coast of Venezuela

Three U.S. Navy Aegis guided-missile destroyers and other military ships and planes have been sent to the coast of Venezuela. The official White House explanation is that it is an anti-illegal drug operation, but it is no secret that Trump wants to overthrow the Maduro regime. After all, this month he issued a $50 million bounty for Maduro’s capture. Trump tried unsuccessfully to overthrow Maduro during his first term in office.


U.S. Department of Homeland Security in violation of the law

In violation of the Federal Records Act, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is not maintaining any text messages generated since April 9, 2025. All federal agencies are required to keep all records of government operations and transactions. So far, though, there are no ramifications.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wanted her own plane several months ago. Now she wants the department to have its own fleet of planes to use to deport people.


Alligator Alcatraz closing?

The “Alligator Alcatraz” detention center in Florida was built and operated at a cost of $400 million. After being operational for two months, Gov. DeSantis says it isn’t needed any more because Homeland Security has done such a great job of deporting people.

I plan a blog post on Tuesday about one of those individuals who has been forced to leave the United States.


Federal Reserve Board of Governors

On Monday, Trump attempted to fire Lisa Cook, a member of the Board of Governors of the quasi-private Federal Reserve. She said she isn’t leaving her position and is suing the Trump Administration. Ms. Cook is the first African-American woman to serve on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.


FEMA employees put on administrative leave

A letter signed by 180 current and former employees of the Federal Emergency Management Administration went to the FEMA Review Council and Congress on Monday. The letter sounded the alarm that recent cuts to FEMA staff and programs have greatly diminished the government’s capacity to respond to a major disaster.

On Tuesday night, at least two of the signers of the letter were placed on administrative leave indefinitely.


Still attacking Harvard University

On Tuesday, Trump instructed Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to get $500 million from Harvard University and not to negotiate that figure.


Union Station in Washington, DC

A week after Vice President Vance, Defense Secretary Hegseth, and White House Assistant Chief of Staff Stephen Miller were booed at a photo op with National Guard troops at the train station in Washington, DC, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy announced that the federal government is taking control of the train station.


White House Tours Suspended

Without any advance warning, all public tours of the White House have been halted indefinitely.

The White House tours webpage of the National Park Service has been taken down and replaced with, “We’re working on this page. Please check back later.”

This means that school groups and tourists will not be allowed inside the White House until further notice. It does not matter to Trump that these tours are usually schedule months in advance.

There is speculation this came about due to the start of construction of Trump’s 90,000-square-foot $200 million ballroom slated for September 1.

So, “The People’s House” is now closed to “The People.” I can’t help but wonder if it will ever be open to “the people” again. If Trump can figure out a way to charge admission, I’m sure he will.


Just when we thought the baseball caps couldn’t get worse…

Last Friday, Trump paraded around Washington and inside the Oval Office in front of TV cameras wearing a new edition of his baseball caps. “Make America Great Again” wasn’t bad enough.

Trump’s new bright red cap screams out in all capital letters, “Trump Was Right About Everything.”

How sad it is to see a U.S. President wearing a baseball cap so much of the time. Apparently, his wealthy up-bringing failed to tell him that men should not wear a hat inside a building… much less a baseball cap with a ridiculous falsehood on it – inside the Oval Office. I cannot un-see it.

This is the same man who publicly berated Ukrainian President Zelenskyy earlier this year for not wearing a suit to the White House. Yet, he thinks wearing a bright red baseball cap with a huge lie on it while wearing a navy blue suit and sitting behind his desk is appropriate attire for the U.S. President. The only thing that could make it worse would be a bright red suit.

There is apparently a new MAGA cap. It says, “Make American Shipbuilding Great Again.” MASGA. Please tell me this is a joke.

How embarrassing for those of us who see all this for the farce it is. This is tackiness on steroids.


My apologies for the things I forgot to mention, the things I don’t know about, and the things that happened since I scheduled this post last night.

Janet

I took one for the team

Exercising my freedom of speech by leaving a comment on someone else’s post on Facebook several weeks ago brought down the wrath of the MAGA folks on my head.

The post I commented on stated that France and the UK were going to give more aid to Ukraine. I merely commented that I was glad they were and that’s what the United States ought to be doing. That’s all I said. I didn’t say anything about boots on the ground because that wasn’t what I had in mind.

Most of the 600+ people who reacted to my comment left a “Like” or a “Heart” emoji. A good many responded that they agreed with me; however, you have to be on the lookout for those MAGA trolls.

The MAGA responses to me ranged from, “That war is none of our business” to “That war is Europe’s problem,” to “Here’s a history lesson for you: The US didn’t jump into World War II until Pearl Harbor was bombed” to “You should send your children there to fight” to “You should send your grandchildren there to fight” to “You should buy a plane ticket and go there to fight” to “You’re ignorant. You need to shut your mouth!” One man was so angry, he responded twice. His second response was my history lesson about Pearl Harbor. I must have gotten on his last nerve.

Photo of a man's hands holding a cell phone
Photo Credit: Marten Bjork on unsplash

Just out of curiosity, I clicked on some of the choleric responders’ names. What I discovered was that not a single one of them has ever posted anything on Facebook. They just troll people like me and leave hateful comments. I decided to mention it today in my blog post because it serves as a reminder to all of us just how vicious and determined Trump’s cult members are.

I guess these MAGA macho men get their kicks by essentially anonymously (since all the information on their Facebook pages are a name (probably bogus) and “gender: male”) by making crude remarks to a 72-year-old woman they don’t know. They are pathetic.

If they were trying to frighten me or silence me… it obviously didn’t work.


Until my next blog post

Read for pleasure.

Do what you can to fight authoritarianism.

Remember the people of Ukraine, Myanmar, and western North Carolina.

Janet

These 13 things bring me hope

You will see from today’s list that it doesn’t take much to make me happy these days. I will take little victories for democracy any time I can find them.

Writing blog post after blog post about bad and unjust things going on in America lately, I was determined to blog about things that bring me hope.

Today’s post is, unfortunately, not as long as any of my posts about the things that worry and frighten me, but today is dedicated to things that bring me hope.

It serves as a reminder that, just like the seven recipients of the 2025 Goldman Environmental Prize that I blogged about yesterday, Environmental Justice, sometimes it just takes one person to take a stand and make a difference.

Photo of a stack of books
Photo by Claudia Wolff on Unsplash
  • Twelve children of active-duty US military personnel in the US, Japan, and Italy are suing US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for removing books about race and gender from Pentagon schools.
  • At 1:00 a.m. (ET) on Saturday, April 19, the US Supreme Court issued a ruling that blocks the Trump Administration from sending any more migrants to El Salvador under further notice. Not that a US Supreme Court ruling will stop him.
  • On April 18, Judge Amy Berman Jackson held an emergency hearing about the impending firings of 1,483 employees of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau. She halted the employees’ access to their computers until an evidentiary hearing can be held on April 28 with witness testimony.
  • Under the lame guise of fighting antisemitism, the Trump Administration continues to attack universities every day. BUT… the faculty senates of the universities in the “Big 10 Conference” are creating a Mutual Academic Defense Compact (MADC). It’s sort of a mini-NATO. Under the agreement, if the Trump Administration attacks one of the member universities, it will be considered an attack on all member universities. The resolution is in response to the Trump Administration’s “legal, financial and political” attacks on academic freedom and universities’ missions. Yes, folks, it has come to this! This give me hope that other conferences throughout the US will create Mutual Academic Defense Compacts.
  • Millions of Americans held peaceful protests across the country on Saturday.
  • CBS News reports that District of Columbia US District Judge Royce Lamberth has ordered the Trump Administration to rehire all Voice of America, Radio Free Asia and Middle East Broadcasting Network staff at least for the time being. He also ordered all Congressional funding must resume to those outlets. A Voice of America journalist and her colleagues filled a suit against Kari Lake, the acting CEO of the US Agency for Global Media – a supposedly independent federal agency that oversees public service media networks. With Kari Lake in charge, thought, there’s no chance for it to act independently of Trump. The judge granted a preliminary injunction. A preliminary injunction was not granted to Radio Free Europe because it filed a separate lawsuit. 
  • The April 20 deadline for US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and US Secretary of Homeland Security to give President Trump a joint report about border security was extended. In that report, they are supposed to state whether or not they think the President should invoke the Insurrection Act. That Act would give him the authority to declare martial law. The extended deadline for the report gave us a breather! We just don’t know what the new deadline is… or if Pete Hegseth will still be Secretary of Defense long enough to participate.
  • Three students in the Rutherford County, Tennessee School District and PEN America (a writers’ organization) are suing the school board for removing more than 150 books from school libraries. The lawsuit was filed with the US District Court Middle District of Tennessee at Nashville. The removals were based on a list circulated by Moms for Liberty instead of school board members or apparently anyone connected with the school district reading the books themselves. Moms for Liberty is known for pushing book bans based on their belief that reading a book will contaminate a child’s mind. They believe they have the right to dictate what all children should not read. Bizarrely, one of its chapters in Indiana quoted Hitler’s “He alone, who OWNS the youth, GAINS the future” statement from a 1935 Nazi rally.
  • On April 17, four members (sadly, but predictably all Democrats) of the US House of Representatives Committee on House Administration signed a letter addressed to Vice President J.D. Vance asking him to reject possible changes made in the 21 museums, 14 libraries and research centers, and the National Zoo – all part of the Smithsonian Institution. As Vice President, Vance is a member of the Smithsonian’s board of regents. In a March 27, 2025, Executive Order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” and prompted by Lindsey Halligan, Esq. of Colorado beauty pageant fame, Trump wants to eliminate “divisive” and “anti-American” content from the Smithsonian and restore “monuments, memorials, statues, and markers” that have been removed from public spaces since 2020. The Executive Order gives Vance the authority to determine what content is “improper.”
  • An indigenous woman has been named the new president of Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado. Dr. Heather Shotton is Wichita and Affiliated Tribes and a Kiowa and Cheyenne descendant. What makes this especially notable is the fact that Fort Lewis College started out as a military fort from 1878 until 1891. Ironically, the fort was built to protect white settlers from Indian raids. In 1892, it was turned into a federal Indian boarding school and served in that capacity until 1909. Approximately 1,100 children attended the Fort Lewis Indian Boarding School, and at least 31 of them died there. Here’s a link to an article that gives more information about the dark days of the boarding school: https://www.cpr.org/2023/10/03/state-investigation-report-released-indian-boarding-schools/.
  • CBS and other news outlets reported that an article documenting the career of Nicole Malachowski, the first female US Air Force Thunderbird pilot, is back online. That gives me a fraction of an ounce of hope, but it should never have been removed! Women and ethnic minorities who have served with honor in the US military should not have to go through the humiliation and disappointment of seeing records of their accomplishments removed from government website. They or others on their behalf should not have to raise cane and make such a stink that the government finally caves in and puts the information back online. What we have here is much larger than one person’s military record being trashed. What we have is an attack on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion because apparently some white men are so insecure they just cannot tolerate a woman or a person of color being recognized for accomplishments that they themselves did not attain. It especially stinks coming from a US President who did not serve in the military. One person’s record being put back on a website is not sufficient. Some of the pages still cannot be opened. And what about all the people whose records were taken down and have not been restored to a place of honor?
  • This one might surprise you, but I found hope on Wednesday when Ukrainian President Zelensky rejected the peace agreement that Trump thought he could force on Ukraine. Trump thought Zelensky would roll over and play dead and agree to giving Russia everything. Trump has no understanding of Zelensky’s love of country. He cannot identify with that concept. Trump’s claim that Russia’s “concession” is not taking all of Ukraine is reprehensible.
  • And last, but not least, there are rumblings that Pete Hegseth might be on his way out as Defense Secretary! He must have one of those “Friends & Family” Plans so he can share real-time bombing details with his wife, brother, and his personal lawyer on his cell phone. Even a child knows when to keep a secret.

Until my next blog post… tomorrow

I hope you are reading a good book that you don’t want to put down long enough to read my blog.

Remember the people of Ukraine, Myanmar, and western North Carolina.

Janet